Some of the Most Important Things to Know About Your Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) and Metabolic Typing

When we are at rest -- not eating, not exercising, not stressed out, not fighting infections or other invaders in our body – and we are relaxing or enjoying ourselves, both branches of the ANS are working together. While we remain our metabolic “type”, our body is in a state of balance and stability called homeostasis, which is harmonious with healing and health.

When we’re involved in specific activities, the two branches work in opposition to each other. When the sympathetic branch is activated, the parasympathetic branch pretty much shuts down, and vice versa.

Our bodies are programmed as they were in “cave men” days when stress equaled life-threatening danger, not the myriad concerns of modern life. It meant a wild animal or human enemy was near and the sympathetic branch of the ANS had to be mobilized. Most of the body’s energy (life force) went to the muscles, heart, adrenalin-secreting adrenal medulla, etc., so the person could fight or flee. This is STILL what happens in our body, even though most of today’s stresses are not life-threatening.

When your sympathetic branch is mobilized, energy is taken away from your digestive organs (part of the parasympathetic branch) in order to deal with the perceived danger. That’s why it’s not healthy to eat when you’re stressed-out (of course, some people are always stressed….). Calm yourself first. Listen to music, meditate, do breathing exercises, do whatever it takes to get into a more relaxed physical and mental state. Otherwise, regardless of your metabolic type, your digestive organs can’t function well and you’re likely to have digestive problems and poor assimilation of nutrients. (You know when this happens – you have gas, feel bloated, have a stomach ache, etc.)

When your sympathetic branch is mobilized, energy is taken away from your immune system (part of the parasympathetic branch) in order to take care of what is considered a life-threatening challenge that is temporarily more important in the moment than the immune system’s constant monitoring and destruction of invading pathogens and toxins. Considering this fact, it’s easy to understand that if you are constantly under stress, your immune system has a difficult time protecting and healing you from disease.

What to do -- When your body is fighting an infection or disease, you need to activate your immune system. Therefore, it’s important to rest, relax, meditate and laugh (laughter stimulates your thymus gland which is part of your immune system). When you’re eating and digesting food, you need to slow down your other activities. That’s why we’re supposed to wait a while after we eat before we exercise.

Sympathetics need to train themselves (reprogram their mind) so they do not wear themselves out, and shut down their immune system with their over-reactive responses. SCWL subliminal tape/CD #39 “Calm Your Nerves” – is especially valuable for sympathetics.

Parasympathetics need to find, create or develop an interest that stimulates and motivates them, and keeps them from being too lethargic or falling into a depressed state. If the person is depressed, I recommend SCWL tape/CD #8 “Overcoming Depression.” Otherwise, #70 “Enthusiasm,” would be a good choice. (To read about the SCWL tapes and CDs -- exceptional “tools for change” -- click here.)

How to Tell When Your Health May Be In Jeopardy

For Sympathetics: When energetic, intelligent, ambitious sympathetic dominant people “blow out” their sympathetic organs and glands (especially the adrenal medulla) -- due to their high-pressured, over-active “go, go, go” lifestyle -- they are likely to have little or no energy, become depressed and put on weight. They may also develop allergies for the first time in their life.

What often happens is this: the sympathetic branch becomes so weak from over-stimulation that the parasympathetic branch is forced to “take over”, even though it is the weaker system. In this case the person needs to “take it easy” and if their metabolism has “switched”, he may have to eat meat, along with lots of good digestive enzymes. Digestive enzymes are important for all metabolic types, but especially for sympathetics, as they normally don’t digest meat well. (NOTE: taking over-the-counter antacids or prescription drugs for digestive problems is NEVER the answer. Read What You Should Know About Digestive Enzymes.) If there is no improvement, professional intervention by someone who understands metabolic typing may be necessary.

For Parasympathetics: When calm, relaxed, friendly parasympathetic dominant people with charming personalities force themselves -- because of cultural or professional pressures and demands -- to function like Type A people, they become very irritable, lose their easy-going good nature and use up their energy reserves. Chicken, fish and vegetarian sources of protein do not take the place of red meat for parasympathetic dominant people, especially if they’re strongly parasympathetic. If they refuse to eat meat because of religious or what they feel are ‘ethical’ beliefs, their bodies are likely to deteriorate within 12 to 18 months, and it’s downhill from there. Their natural enduring energy no longer exists.

It is important to realize that parasympathetics CAN’T function like sympathetics. To continue to do so can lead to serious problems. If the parasympathetic person stops pressuring him or herself to function like a sympathetic and eats red meat or glandular meat daily (along with good digestive enzymes) and is still lethargic and devoid of energy and interest in life, professional intervention by someone who understands metabolic typing may be necessary.

Knowing About Metabolic Types Can Help Your Relationships

Most of us want our mate or “significant other,” or our children, relatives and friends, or our employer, employee and co-workers to function like us. We wonder why they don’t, and we often consider what is fundamental to their nature to be “flaws” in their personality.

It’s likely some of the people you know exhibit strong characteristics of either a sympathetic or parasympathetic dominant type. When we take metabolic types into consideration, we realize we each have basic differences in our nature that are not as easy to “change” as we would like. By recognizing this, we become more tolerant and understanding of each other, and we find ways to balance and enjoy the differences between ourselves and the people in our lives.

Some Case Histories

When I was a Metabolic Technician, working with extremely sick people, The Kelley Program helped save some lives. While everyone does not need a customized program, for some people, knowing your metabolic type is the “missing link” to restoring and maintaining their health.

In the three cases I briefly describe below, I did not use the computerized program, but my knowledge of metabolic typing was very important to the clients and to myself, when I was seriously ill.

The Vegetarian Man Who Needed To Eat Meat

When Eric came to see me, he was in his early 30s. He told me he had had no strength and vitality for several years, even though he ate a “very healthy” vegetarian diet. He said he felt wonderful for the first year or so, and his energy began to wane after that. This is typical because at first the person is detoxifying and feels great. If he or she is parasympathetic dominant, the positive results usually end within 12-18 months. Eric accepted his lack of energy because he believed his vegetarian way of eating was very healthy…until he no longer had the energy or interest for sex. That’s what motivated him to see me. Upon questioning him and learning that he was of German descent, I was fairly certain that his metabolic type required meat.

After we changed his diet, his recovery and the return of his sex life was so rapid it stunned him -- and also made him very happy!

The Young Woman Whose Marriage Was Almost Ruined

Laura had a very embarrassing problem – she had to urinate all day and all night. She could not be in a subway without having to get off so she could look for a bathroom, or drive or ride in a car without having to stop at a rest stop or wooded area if no rest stop was in sight. She was in danger of losing her job because of all her bathroom breaks. But the worst thing was that she couldn’t have sex with her husband without having to run to the bathroom every few minutes (which is why this condition was ruining her marriage). She was a mental and emotional wreck when she came to see me.

Even though she had spent hundreds of dollars on medical tests that revealed nothing that could help her, from her symptoms and my deduction of her metabolic type, I believed that she probably had undiscovered allergies. I told her to eliminate bread and all grains from her diet for one week and then call me.

A week passed by and there was no call. Puzzled, I called her. She apologized profusely, explaining that she forgot to call me because her symptoms were GONE. The change had occurred in only 24 hours!

Healing From Cancer

My most important experience was my own, when I healed from cancer in 1994. I used nutrition and all the knowledge and techniques I had at the time (and others I learned during my illness) for physical, mental, emotional and spiritual healing.

Besides my nutritional regime, I believe everything I did contributed to my healing. These included prayer and meditation, relaxation and breathing techniques, detoxification procedures I learned as a metabolic technician, chiropractic care, emotional “release” techniques, affirmations, mental imagery and other techniques to reprogram my subconscious mind, spiritual processes, and playing the SCWL subliminal tapes #64 “Psychoneuroimmunology” and #9 “Joy and Happiness” day and night. (My healing program and much more is described in detail in Dynamic Self Healing Manuals)

Here’s what I did nutritionally. Since I am sympathetic dominant, I ate lots of fresh organic fruits and vegetables and I juiced daily. Occasionally I ate a little fish or organic chicken, but no red meat. I cut sweets to a minimum and didn’t drink coffee (I never liked it, anyhow). I drank plenty of filtered water and green tea and I took supplements that included digestive enzymes, pancreatic enzymes and antioxidants.

If I were dealing with cancer now, I would do what I did then, with a few differences. I would take exceptional food supplements that were not available in 1994. The most important one would be Immunocal®, which is what Celine Dion’s husband, Rene Angilil, took when he had prostate cancer (he and Celine continue to take it). Immunocal® stimulates production of glutathione/GHS in the body, which strengthens the immune system and detoxifies our cells, so I would also do less detoxification procedures.

Since everybody, regardless of their metabolic type, needs glutathione/GHS (just as everyone needs vitamins and minerals) and most people know little or nothing about it, I suggest you read Glutathione/GSH and “The Reverse Modulation Effect” In Cancer and Is Glutathione/GSH The Nutritional “Miracle Solution” of The 21st Century?

The Problem With Most Nutritional Information

The conflicting and contradictory conclusions that are drawn from nutritional research and presented to the public as the latest, greatest nutritional “breakthrough” (which totally disagrees with the last breakthrough) is a big problem. It confuses people, and when people are confused, they don’t do anything. They just continue to eat the processed, chemicalized, nutrient-deficient, over-sweetened, fat-laden, preserved products that now pass for “food,” and take synthetic supplements that don’t benefit them.

I believe the conflicting and contradictory results are due to the fact that metabolic typing is rarely considered. Many research studies are done on people with different metabolic types, some of whom thrive on certain foods and supplements, while others have no improvement or get sicker on the same foods and supplements (this is especially true when synthetic supplements are used).

In other research studies the subjects come from a particular area where almost everyone is sympathetic dominant (such as in the Himalayans), living on fruits, nuts, seeds and vegetables. Their diet is then presented as THE diet for everyone. In other case studies, the subjects are parasympathetic dominants who thrive on meat, and now THIS diet is presented as the truly healthy diet, sometimes referred to as “the cave-man diet”. Again, no consideration is given to metabolic typing.

My Current Involvement With Nutrition

Though I’m not in practice as a Metabolic Technician or nutrition consultant, my understanding of metabolic typing is always a consideration for me. I continue to keep up with nutritional information and I am able to evaluate what I learn because of the many years I’ve studied the subject in-depth.

I personally use and recommend whole food supplements with “delivery systems” that insure the nutrients actually reach the cells of your body. (This is not the case with most supplements.) I consider them to be exceptional and unique supplements that provide essential nutrition that everyone needs, regardless of your metabolic type. You can find out more about these supplements in other articles listed on my Nutrition Page.

For more information contact www.metabolictypingonline.com

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